


To Reclaim Such a Land

by victoriousscarf



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2013-03-18
Packaged: 2017-12-05 18:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But Oin… He would leave anything behind to follow Balin.</p><p>For that matter he always had.</p><p>They were both getting old, the long years stretching behind them without quite so many before them anymore. Which perhaps meant they should stay at home, and keep Erebor thriving, but instead Balin had gotten it into his head that Moria should be retaken and Oin hardly intended to let him go alone, or without him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Reclaim Such a Land

When Balin said he intended to retake the Mines of Moria, Oin didn’t even stop to consider before agreeing. Their company had for the most part settled down, many happy with their new lives in a reclaimed kingdom. Gloin for instance had his wife and son who he loved more dearly than even the reclaimed treasures, and Dwalin though even more quiet than he once been showed no signs of slowing down. Dori flourished and even Nori for the most part stayed out of trouble.

But Oin… He would leave anything behind to follow Balin.

For that matter he always had.

They were both getting old, the long years stretching behind them without quite so many before them anymore. Which perhaps meant they should stay at home, and keep Erebor thriving, but instead Balin had gotten it into his head that Moria should be retaken and Oin hardly intended to let him go alone, or without him.

Because though a part of him might have understood it was a mission doomed to failure—there were no portents that this would be the time to reclaim Moria, no signs they might succeed—he and Balin had always gone together.

Since they were children, growing up in Erebor before the time of the dragon, they had followed each other. Oin could never place the time when they realized their fates were entwined, but it had been long ago. If he had not been following Balin, Balin had been following him, no matter which doubts the other might have had.

Their elders had clicked their tongues and shook their heads but had never tried to stop them.

They’d been lovers once, in what seemed long ago to Oin now. So far as he knew, Balin had never taken another and he certainly had no other lover. But they were dwarves, and they had gone separate ways and when they met again they were older, and Balin had a different stoop to his shoulders and his eyes followed Thorin as king more than they looked to Oin.

But they still followed each other everywhere so much Oin wasn’t sure if he followed on Balin’s heels, or Balin on his.

They did not need the kisses of youth or to share each other’s bed to know they were each other’s ones, the ones that they would love through the long years of their lives.

However long that might still be.

So Oin would leave behind his family, waving goodbye to Gimli who had grown since Erebor had been retaken, and even more since Oin had delivered the babe and dropped him on his head so long ago. Balin would part from Dwalin, who nodded solemnly at him and Ori—Ori who had grown so but still carried his books and walked away loaded down with knitwear—had cheerfully parted from Dori and Nori, who looked less cheery by far and even as they rode away from Erebor, Oin expected Dori to come pounding after them.

But apparently not matter how much the companions liked to think things stayed the same, they didn’t. Oin for his part didn’t much want to consider why Ori had chosen to come with them. The younger dwarf had grown much, and mourned much since he’d threatened Smaug with Dwarvish iron. For that matter Oin didn’t much want to consider the motivations of the other dwarves either, eyes bright with the thought of glory and reclaiming an ancient homeland.

They didn’t understand it, in the ways that they three did, what it meant to go on a suicide mission to reclaim such a land.

The dwarves had succeeded once, Oin thought, his pony moving after Balin’s over the rocky ground. They probably would not be so lucky a second time.

But he would be with Balin.

As it should be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Introspective, short, it's finals week and my brain is oozing out my ears piece. 
> 
> Mostly the result of: I don't write Oin or Balin often enough, hey there's this Moria thing what's up with that?
> 
> Also, about halfway through I realized that I have no idea how Ori managed to get to Moria without Dori hot on his heels and this really bothers me. (For that matter, for the Ori interested parties, this piece fits in really well with "Someone to Die For" and "Dirges Aren't Poetry")


End file.
